SARANAC LAKE - Two top environmental advocates with Protect the Adirondacks! recently left the organization.
Keene resident Dan Plumley, who was director of conservation programs, and Niskayuna resident Dave Gibson, who was senior conservation advisor, are no longer with the organization that was created with the merger of the Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks and the Residents' Committee to Protect the Adirondacks last July.
Their decision to leave comes just months after Protect's board of directors asked Gibson to move aside as executive director, a position he had held since Protect formed last summer. Prior to that, Gibson had been at the helm of the Association since 1987.
"I worked with Dave Gibson for 23 years, and he is one of the most consummate leading professional conservationists I've ever worked with, and I've worked with many nationally and internationally, and certainly for decades in the Adirondack Park," said Plumley, whose last day was Friday. "It's been my great honor to work for and with Dave, and I have to admit, in many ways, in my heart, I kind of resigned from Protect when he was moved aside. That was a decision that I could not support. Be that as it may, I'm moving forward."
Gibson could not be reached for comment Tuesday, but Protect's director of special projects, Mike DiNunzio indicated Gibson and Plumley weren't comfortable with the internal changes happening within the organization.
"They didn't want to move on with us," DiNunzio said. "They were probably uncomfortable with the changes that we were making and felt they wanted to pursue their work careers in another way. That's all I know about it."
DiNunzio said Protect will hire a new leader to replace Gibson and will fill in other staffing gaps after that. But for the time being, the loss of Gibson and Plumley leaves Protect without any real voice in the Park. The two men were the leaders of the Association when it came to advocating on Park issues.
One of the main reasons the Association and the Residents' Committee merged was because they were reportedly struggling financially.
Adirondack Council spokesman John Sheehan, who worked with both men for more than 20 years, said he has "a lot of respect for the work that they do, and I think the organization will regret their loss."
Sheehan also lamented the losses because of their ties to the Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks, which had been the oldest Adirondack environmental advocacy organization before the merger. The Association had been around since the early 1900s.
"They were the strongest and the most prominent of the organizations for a large portion of the 1900s," Sheehan said. "It's sad to see an organization with such roots disappear entirely."
But not everyone will miss them. The two have often been part of debates that have pitted environmental groups against local governments, including in Tupper Lake, where the two were strong advocates for scaling down the Adirondack Club and Resort project.
"I don't have much to say about them getting done because they haven't helped us up here," Tupper Lake town Supervisor Roger Amell said. "A lot of the environmentalists, they keep coming back and saying they don't want development, and that's not right for environmentalists to be so harsh on the local people and stuff. We are up here to make a living off the land."
Plumley said he will be more focused on his private environmental consulting business, Totem Environmental Consulting Group. But he indicated he will remain active as an advocate and plans on activity participating at state Adirondack Park Agency meetings.
"One of the challenges and opportunities that all of us have as citizens of New York is we is own part of the title to the Forest Preserve," Plumley said. "Any citizen can be an advocate for 'forever wild.' Any citizen can take the state's accord, if it feels the Forest Preserve is being mismanaged or is under undo threat."